Power Sending ＼ Maintenance

When we visited Shilin Substation, we met the foreman of the outdoor work class, Shih-Huang Li, and Ta-Yeh Chen. Because of them, we had a valuable experience.
On the afternoon of January 21, 2019, we went to the maintenance training center of Taipei North Service Office of Taiwan Power Company, and even tried to climb the poles! When we first arrived there, we thought that there would be any buildings, but there just was an open space in front of us, and dozens of poles for the staff to be certified.

The experienced class leader, Mr.Li explained the function of these utility poles for us. He also explained the contents of the license examination, which were divided into A-level, B-level and C-level. The higher level is with the higher requirements. Sometimes this venue will gather twenty or thirty people to practice, and they will practice an entire afternoon. There are many items in the training, but Mr. Li said that experience and flexibility are more important. He has not been able to learn half of it in Taipower for nearly 30 years. There are many situations during repairing. This is the test of group leader's emergency ability. How the group leader led the team to repair as soon as possible is a challenge. In the process of explanation, Mr. Li said something that scared everyone's thoughts: not every time to maintain is a power outage. That means that maintenance personnel are very likely to carry out maintenance under “power on”, so the training center will also train for “live power maintenance”.

After Mr. Li finished explaining, it was time for us to show our talents! He demonstrated how to climb the pole. After listening to it, we are ready to go on the experience. The teachers encouraged us that “everyone has to go up once and then go home.” Finally, we divided into two groups, climbed the poles separately, and completed to pass the volleyball on the pole before we could come down. This is a way to train new recruits because that means the utility pole can be repaired without grasping the utility pole. When climbing the pole, we tied the seat belt, stepped on the pedal nails, and took the heavy-duty protective belt step by step to climb up to about two meters high. We tried to let go of hands, leaned on the seat belt, made one foot straight, and another foot bent, let the center of gravity be placed on the straight foot, and finally passed the ball with the classmate on the other pole. And then we slowly returned to the ground.

I thought the most terrible thing about the whole experience was to go back to the ground and look at how far the nails below. I didn’t know how far my foot was from the nail. I was afraid of stepping in the air, so I was slower than going up!

After this visit and experience, I felt that the maintenance staff was a really hard work. I had to carry such a heavy seat belt. After going up, I had to pull the equipment to be installed and repaired with a rope. In addition to these, there were repairs with time pressure, if it is the bad weather like Typhoon, it is even harder. After this experience, the feeling of me to maintenance personnel is “appreciation”. I really appreciate their hard work, so that people can use electricity conveniently and safely!

Q and A
The following records are the visits of Taipower maintenance staff in Taipei North Service Office, Shih-Huang Li, when we visited Beitou Taipower Training Center:
Q1：Who will come to the training center?
A1： There are a lot of training centers in the company. Some are training staffs undertake business, and some are training staffs like us work outside. Kaohsiung also has a technician training center, which helps them to obtain licenses and go with different levels of training. We (class leaders) are obliged to train new recruits to take the B-level license.
Q2：How many people will participate in the training of Beitou Training Center? How long do they train?
A2：Not really. There are fewer people come today. There are the most 30 people at the same time on the other days because most of them are training in the afternoon. Sometimes the class leader is too busy to train them, and the maintenance staffs will train themselves independently. Training time usually starts at one o'clock in the afternoon and ends at four o'clock, about three hours here. The operating time depends on what type of exam topic they took. A higher test level should be done in 60 minutes, so they must finish it at least 60 minutes. And a simple test should be completed within twenty-eight minutes. Thus, everyone’s training time is different.
Q3：What is included in the training content?
A3：A lot. The basic content is the climbing pole. Although some people already have a C-level license, but it is necessary to lay the foundation and then refine the more difficult skills for the B-level license. The A-level license is different, and the training content is more difficult. Everyone has to train different content in different ways because everyone has to strengthen their weaknesses.

Q4：What is the most difficult challenge for you in the training process?
A4：As a class leader, it is so hard to teach everyone to get a good grade because each person has different qualifications and if I teach them the same skill, some people will learn for two months, but some people have to learn for three months or even four months. Everyone is different. The most difficult thing is to teach their have skills above the general standards. It takes time.
Q5：What is the most difficult skill for the students?
A5：The A-level license is the most difficult because it means you have almost all of the company's external unit licenses. However, some people only get grade C to pass the test. For example, you and I both have a A-level license, but your score is only C, and mine is A, indicating that you still have a lot to learn. The country's license approval only guarantees that there are grade C of the passers-by, but the power company has more than one hundred technical requirements, so even if you get the license, there are still many technologies you have to study hard and practice until the technology is very skillful. There are many challenges to be faced in repairing, but the difficulties encountered are different. How to solve them is the main purpose of training. Basically, live power operation is the most difficult skill. That is high-voltage power above the pole, and maintenance should be done without power failure. It is a hard work with high risk.

Q6：How many power maintenance personnel are there in Taipei North Service Office currently?
A6：There are nearly one hundred people who are mainly engaged in maintenance work. Other departments are not responsible for working outdoors to climb poles.
Q7：Do electric maintenance personnel need regular training? Who is responsible for planning and giving them lecture?
A7：Our service office is trained almost three times a year, and we call back recruit personnel from various places. Sometimes because there are too many people, there will be group discussions, and experience exchanging. Everyone receives regular training. After returning to their unit, they will continue to train themselves. Three times year training is for live power operation, because live power is more dangerous. Public security is more important and more practical, so it will teach a little more. Those who have just entered the training will be in the training center for six months. Most of the training will be more concentrated. Although there are fewer opportunities for outing operations, they will try to make new recruits do their best on simple maintenance work. When there is a power outage, there will be time pressure. The experienced student can finish it in two hours, but the new student must spend more than three hours, so most of us will not let the new students operate under time pressure.
The organizer will plan what courses each person needs to take, and sometimes each person sets up his own training programs because the technical needs of each level in other districts are different. In the 12 administrative districts of Taipei City, only Shihlin, Beitou, Nangang, and Neihu have power poles on the ground. The other eight administrative districts are underground, so they are not helpful in the practice of climbing power poles. Instead, they want to strengthen underground maintenance projects. However, like Beitou and Shilin District, there are overhead and underground lines, so both skills must be trained.

Q8：Do all new staffs have a C-level license? If a person with a C-level license wants to move to the Grade A and Grade B, is the company forced to take the test, or is it voluntary?
A8：They will not have a C-level license until they have been training in Kaohsiung for half a year. The company will not force them to take exams, but if they have high-level licenses, the more they know, the higher salary they have, and the better way they protect themselves. Everyone will voluntarily try to get the high-level license. Many maintenance personnel of the power company have a B-level license. Few people have been in the power company for 20 years and only have a C-level license. Class leaders like me, six or seven of the eight people are admitted to have a A-level license, and everyone’s quality is over B-level. However, we encourage young people to take more licenses. It's a different era now. They can work for a long time.

Q9：Do more young people come in this year?
A9：There are 13 new people in this district. There are a total of seven classes, each with more than forty, about three hundred new staffs. Besides, there is also a power plant section, so there are almost four or five hundred newcomers a year. At the end of April this year, a group of new recruits will come. I will work here in the afternoon and train them well.

Q10：Are new recruits coming in, will they be accompanied by senior staffs? Is it a shift or a nine-to-five job?
A10： New recruits work from 8 am to 5 pm on weekdays as usual. We have two classes, one in the morning with the management room, and some with me, because there are some seniors can lead them and work in the morning, and everyone trains here in the afternoon. There are many subjects, not just climbing poles. For them, there are still many details to learn about. If any natural disaster happens, somewhere needs to be repaired. It is the responsibility of another unit. They are 24-hour shifts. They are groups of two and each group takes turns. They are all experienced personnel. Most of the newcomers will concentrate on the line class and will not go out for maintenance, because it will be dangerous if a public security accident occurs. When the class leader goes out, he must immediately repair the power transmission. However, the company stipulates that the class leader cannot be on the electric pole and can only be responsible for supervision. From the perspective of the class leader, he will not be willing to let the rookie go to the maintenance because the trainee is still immature. Therefore, the newcomers will go out with the electric line units. There are many people who can guide them. They have to go out to set up traffic maintenance signs, write and change road signs, arrange traffic lines, and surround the construction area. There are many things to learn.

It was really an unforgettable experience!